1988American Journal of PhysicsRequires access

Using Einstein’s method to derive both the Planck and Fermi–Dirac distributions

Frank S. Crawford

Open publisher page 4 citations

Abstract

Many quantum mechanics textbooks give the remarkable argument of Einstein wherein he introduces his famous ‘‘A and B coefficients’’ and uses detailed balancing to derive the Planck distribution for thermal photons. But it seems to be not widely known that the same approach can yield the Fermi–Dirac distribution for thermal electrons.

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What this paper is about

Many quantum mechanics textbooks give the remarkable argument of Einstein wherein he introduces his famous ‘‘A and B coefficients’’ and uses detailed balancing to derive the Planck distribution for thermal photons. But it seems to be not widely known that the same approach can yield the Fermi–Dirac distribution for thermal electrons.

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OpenAlex reports 4 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

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Available abstract

Many quantum mechanics textbooks give the remarkable argument of Einstein wherein he introduces his famous ‘‘A and B coefficients’’ and uses detailed balancing to derive the Planck distribution for thermal photons. But it seems to be not widely known that the same approach can yield the Fermi–Dirac distribution for thermal electrons.

Key concepts: Physics, Planck, Planck's law, Einstein, Fermi–Dirac statistics, Photon, Planck energy, Electron

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